What Is a Works Cited

The 10th Grade Everything You Need to Know About Researching, MLA, and Developing Research Papers Handbook

Anytime you are in doubt about a formatting question ask Mr. Trescavage or check the copy of the Handbook, otherwise known as “The Great Source.”

Please make sure you save this handout since you will be asked to use MLA format. You will especially need to use it for all research papers, your senior project, and beyond……..

Name: ______Period: ______Part I: The Five Steps of the Perfect Research Process

The reason a Research Paper is called such is because you are searching for information that adequately fits an argument you wish to make about a specific topic. The following seven steps outline a simple and effective strategy for finding information for a research paper and documenting the sources you find. Depending on your topic and your familiarity with the library, you may need to rearrange or recycle these steps. Adapt this outline to your needs.

STEP 1: IDENTIFY AND DEVELOP YOUR TOPIC

SUMMARY: State your topic as a question. For example, if you are interested in finding out about the use of tobacco products by high school students, you might pose the question, “What effect does the use of cigarettes have on the health of high school students?” Sometimes a teacher or professor will provide you with a prompt to help narrow your topic. Usually the prompt is to give you a start—your argument still needs to be something you feel comfortable with writing about.

STEP 2: FIND BACKGROUND INFORMATION

SUMMARY: All writers experience “writer’s block” at some point, so if you are struggling to construct your argument or simply have no idea where to get started, you can consult a source, like an encyclopedia, to familiarize yourself with background information on your topic. Read articles in these encyclopedias to set the context for your research. Note any relevant items in the bibliographies at the end of the encyclopedia articles that you could use as a primary source.

While it has become more accepted, many academic institutions do not want Wikipedia used as a primary source because it can sometimes be manipulated to include false information, but it makes a great source for background information. Search for “tobacco use of teenagers” to get an understanding of what type of potential argument you can create.

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page  http://encarta.msn.com/artcenter_0/Encyclopedia_Articles.html#tcsel

STEP 3: FIND ELECTRONIC and PRINT RESOURCES

SUMMARY: Identify the main concepts or keywords in your question that could help with your search. Start with obvious terms that are broad. For example, type the word “cigarette” or “tobacco” into a Search Engine like Google.com, MSN’s Live Search, and Yahoo!com. Those search queries would give a very general set of findings, so to uncover information more suited to your topic, you have to narrow the topic—try “tobacco and teenagers.”

A great place to go once you sort through some of the information is the NEWS link associated with many search engines. It will give you the latest articles published on the keywords you searched for—an added bonus since you really should be using articles from established news sources with accredited authors.

One of the most important ideas to remember about research is that it’s a trial and error scenario. Very rarely do you get “lucky” and strike research gold. You may have to work a little bit to uncover materials that fit your argument.

For more in-depth information, please see the links provided below:

 http://www.scholar.google.com  http://www.google.com/help/refinesearch.html  http://www.google.com/news  http://www.dogpile.com/  http://clusty.com/

 http://search.yahoo.com/  http://www.bing.com/

While search engines are great avenues to find current news articles on your topic, your school should have a subscription to an online database [the Riverside library subscribes to Ebscohost in Power Library] where the past, full-text editions many scholarly journals, magazines, and other periodicals, etc., are housed to search through. While searching might prove frustrating, the information retrieved from these sources is usually the most academic you will find.

SUMMARY: Use keyword searching for a narrow or complex search topic in your school’s library. Use subject searching for a broad subject. Print or write down the citation (author, title,etc.) and the location information (call number and library). Note the circulation status. When you pull the book from the shelf, scan the bibliography for additional sources. Make sure it fits your topic and argument before checking it out or photocopying specific portions.

STEP 4: EVALUATE WHAT YOU FIND

SUMMARY: Evaluating the authority, usefulness, and reliability of the information you find is a crucial step in the process of research. The questions you ask about books, periodical articles, multimedia titles, or Web pages are crucial in deciding if that piece of information will fit into the research paper you are building. You should look for sources that fit into your paper, not the other way around.

Becoming proficient at selecting sources will require experience, of course, but even a beginning researcher can take a few minutes to ask:

 “What source or what kind of source would be the most credible for providing information for this project?”  “Which sources are likely to be fair, objective, lacking hidden motives, showing quality control?”

It is important to keep these considerations in mind, so that you do not simply take the opinion of the first source or two you can locate. By thinking about these issues while searching, you will be able to identify suspicious or questionable sources more readily. With so many sources to choose from in a typical search, there is no reason to settle for unreliable material.

Source Selection Tips: Try to select sources that offer as much of the following information as possible:

 Author's Name (John J. Smith)  Author's Title or Position (Staff Writer)  Author's Organizational Affiliation  Date of Page Creation or Version (December 20, 2006)  Author's Contact Information (an Email address)  Some of the Characteristics of Information Quality (listed below)

Information Quality is vitally important to your paper. If your information comes from quality sources, your paper will be clearer because you will have a better understanding of the important points and be able to express 3

them. To check if your information is quality, please use the CARS checklist—each of your many sources should have at least three of the characteristics for you to use it on one of your research papers:

Credibility trustworthy source, author’s credentials, evidence of quality control, known or respected authority, organizational support.

Goal: an authoritative source, a source that supplies some good evidence that allows you to trust it.

Accuracy up to date, factual, detailed, exact, comprehensive, audience and purpose reflect intentions of completeness and accuracy.

Goal: a source that is correct today (not yesterday), a source that gives the whole truth.

Reasonableness fair, balanced, objective, reasoned, no conflict of interest, absence of fallacies or slanted tone.

Goal: a source that engages the subject thoughtfully and reasonably, concerned with the truth.

Support listed sources, contact information, available corroboration, claims supported, documentation supplied.

Goal: a source that provides convincing evidence for the claims made, a source you can triangulate (find at least two other sources that support it).

STEP 5: CITE WHAT YOU FIND USING A STANDARD FORMAT

Give credit where credit is due; cite your sources.

Citing or documenting the sources used in your research serves two purposes—it gives proper credit to the authors of the materials used and it allows those who are reading your work to duplicate your research and locate the sources that you have listed as references. Knowingly representing the work of others as your own is plagiarism. Depending on your teachers, professors, or school, you will have to be familiar with MLA, APA, Turbian, or Chicago style of citation.

Son of Citation Machine is a great online source but as the website states, “There are many nuances to how citations are formed, and this software may not pick up all of the circumstances that influence a citation's proper format. Because of the myriad of characteristics in information sources, Neither David Warlick, nor The Landmark Project, can fully guarantee the accuracy of citations generated by this tool.” Part III of this packet will focus on making sure you avoid traveling down the path of plagiarism.

______Part II: How do I effectively build my Research Paper?

1. Follow your rubric.

A rubric is “a scoring tool that lists the criteria for a piece of work or what counts.” For example, a rubric for an essay might tell students that their work will be judged on purpose, organization, details, voice, and mechanics.

A good rubric also describes levels of quality for each of the criteria, usually on a point scale. Under mechanics, for example, the rubric might define the lowest level of performance as "many misspellings, grammar, and punctuation errors," and the highest level as "all words are spelled correctly; your work shows that you understand subject-verb agreement, when to make words possessive, and how to use commas, semicolons and periods."

Teachers and their emphasis on rubrics will vary, so be flexible. Study your rubric and decide what information it requires to receive the highest possible grade for the assignment. If you do not receive a rubric, ask your instructor to give you an idea about what they are looking for from your finished product.

2. What is a thesis statement?

A thesis statement:

 tells the reader how you will interpret the significance of the subject matter under discussion.  is a road map for the paper; in other words, it tells the reader what to expect from the rest of the paper.  directly answers the question asked of you. A thesis is an interpretation of a question or subject, not the subject itself. The subject, or topic, of an essay might be “teen tobacco use”; a thesis must then offer a way to understand the highlight specific information about teens and tobacco use.  makes a claim that others might dispute.  is usually a single sentence somewhere in your first paragraph that presents your argument to the reader. The rest of the paper, the body of the essay, gathers and organizes evidence that will persuade the reader of the logic of your interpretation.  will organize your ideas into a logical sequence (start with the beginning and end with the end). Some examples of logical sequencing are chronological or importance.

Research writing is a way to gather information from various sources, and then evaluate, organize, and synthesize that information into a report. If your assignment asks you to take a position or develop a claim about a subject, you may need to convey that position or claim in a thesis statement near the beginning of your draft. The assignment may not explicitly state that you need a thesis statement because your instructor may assume you will include one. When an 5

assignment asks you to analyze, to interpret, to compare and contrast, to demonstrate cause and effect, or to take a stand on an issue, it is likely that you are being asked to develop a thesis and to support it persuasively.

How do I get a thesis?

A thesis is the result of a lengthy thinking process. Formulating a thesis is not the first thing you do after reading an essay assignment. Before you develop an argument on any topic, you have to collect and organize evidence, look for possible relationships between known facts (such as surprising contrasts or similarities), and think about the significance of these relationships. Once you do this thinking, you will probably have a "working thesis," a basic or main idea, an argument that you think you can support with evidence but that may need adjustment along the way.

How do I know if my thesis is strong?

You can do some thesis evaluation of your own to make sure your thesis statement adequately expresses the argument you wish to make with your paper. When reviewing your first draft and its working thesis, ask yourself the following:

 Do I answer the question? Re-reading the question prompt after constructing a working thesis can help you fix an argument that misses the focus of the question.  Have I taken a position that others might challenge or oppose? If your thesis simply states facts that no one would, or even could, disagree with, it's possible that you are simply providing a summary, rather than making an argument.  Is my thesis statement specific enough? Thesis statements that are too vague often do not have a strong argument. If your thesis contains words like "good" or "successful," see if you could be more specific: why is something "good"; what specifically makes something "successful"?  Does my thesis pass the "So what?" test? If a reader's first response is, "So what?" then you need to clarify, to forge a relationship, or to connect to a larger issue.  Does my essay support my thesis specifically and without wandering? If your thesis and the body of your essay do not seem to go together, one of them has to change. It's o.k. to change your working thesis to reflect things you have figured out in the course of writing your paper. Remember, always reassess and revise your writing as necessary.  Does my thesis pass the "how and why?" test? If a reader's first response is "how?" or "why?" your thesis may be too open-ended and lack guidance for the reader. See what you can add to give the reader a better take on your position right from the beginning.

Examples:

In a high school or college setting, a research paper can (and should) be given in any class that you take. Like those classes, the variety of research papers will be all over the map. A health class, for example, may call for a paper that is informative about a disease or health condition—like teenage tobacco use. An informative research paper may call for a list and explanation of some symptoms about your topic:

 Tobacco use for teenagers presents a life-time of health complications including a weak immune system, respiratory illness, and oral cancer. 6

The above example is a very simple, yet effective thesis statement. First, it restates the question so the reader knows exactly what the argument is that is being written about. Next, it shows the reader that the author is against tobacco use in teenagers. Finally, it clearly states the three reasons why tobacco use in teenagers is harmful—weak immune system, respiratory illness, and oral cancer. This thesis would give the student an opportunity to write a very solid paper about the topic.

For a more complex assignment: Suppose you are taking a course on 19th-century America, and the instructor hands out the following essay assignment: Compare and contrast the reasons why the North and South fought the Civil War. You begin your thesis statement with the following idea:

 The North and South fought the Civil War for many reasons, some of which were the same and some different.

This weak thesis restates the question without providing any additional information. You will expand on this new information in the body of the essay, but it is important that the reader know where you are heading. A reader of this weak thesis might think, “What reasons?,” “How are they the same?,” “How are they different?,” and simply “Why?” Ask yourself these same questions and begin to compare Northern and Southern attitudes (perhaps you first think, “The South believed slavery was right, and the North thought slavery was wrong”). Now, push your comparison toward an interpretation—why did one side think slavery was right and the other side thinks it was wrong? You look again at the evidence, and you decide that you are going to argue that the North believed slavery was immoral while the South believed it upheld the Southern way of life. You write:

 While both sides fought the Civil War over the issue of slavery, the North fought for moral reasons while the South fought to preserve its own institutions.

Now you have a working thesis! Included in this working thesis is a reason for the war and some idea of how the two sides disagreed over this reason. As you write the essay, you will probably begin to characterize these differences more precisely, and your working thesis may start to seem too vague. Maybe you decide that both sides fought for moral reasons, and that they just focused on different moral issues. You end up revising the working thesis into a final thesis that really captures the argument in your paper:

 While both Northerners and Southerners believed they fought against tyranny and oppression, Northerners focused on the oppression of slaves while Southerners defended their own right to self-government.

Compare this to the original weak thesis. This final thesis presents a way of interpreting evidence that illuminates the significance of the question. Keep in mind that this is one of many possible interpretations of the Civil War—it is not the one and only right answer to the question. There isn't one right answer; there are only strong and weak thesis statements and strong and weak uses of evidence.

3. The Introduction and Conclusion are mirrored?

. Introduction:

If you place something in the mirror, it’s always opposite of what it appears. Writing your introduction and conclusion has the same effect. The way you begin your paper will also be the way you finish your paper, just in reverse.

Introductions are important. They arouse a reader's interest, introduce the subject, and tackle the “So What?” factor. In short, they're your paper's “first impression.” But you don't have to write them first. In fact, many students prefer launching right into the body of the essay before they tackle intros and conclusions. However, other students prefer writing the introduction first to help “set up” what's to follow.

Whatever your style, you'll probably put your thesis/question somewhere near the end of the paragraph and some important background information directly before. But that still leaves the very beginning. Contrary to what you may have been taught, intros don't have to begin with a "general statement." So what are some different ways to start that first sentence?

 Begin with a quotation—just make sure you explain its relevance.  Begin with an acknowledgment of an opinion opposite to the one you plan to take.  Begin with a very short narrative or anecdote (story) that has a direct bearing on your paper.  Begin with an interesting fact.  Begin with a definition or explanation of a term relevant to your paper.

What to avoid: Some styles which have become overused or simply just don’t work are:

 The Rhetorical Question—“Could you imagine living in ancient Rome? Ancient Rome was the greatest civilization mankind ever constructed.”  The “Cinema Scope” intro—“Throughout the history of mankind, one thing has been true….”  The “Telegraphic Sentence” intro—“This essay will consider the development of humor in America….”  The “Grand Statement” intro [insert drum beats here]—“There is no doubt in any educated person’s mind that staplers are the greatest invention of all time.”

. Conclusion:

The heading of this section states that the introduction and conclusion are mirror images of each other. While that could be a simple way to describe the process of creating your conclusion, calling it a mirror image DOES NOT mean that you will write your introduction in reverse and be done with it.

What form a conclusion will take entirely depends on what precedes it. There are some rules of thumb to keep in mind though:

 Do not begin the conclusion with the words, “In conclusion.” If it’s your last paragraph, we all know it should be the conclusion.  Don't end your conclusion with a quotation or with a statement that could very well be the subject of another paper. The former deflects attention away from you as writer and thinker; the latter deflects attention from what you're saying in your paper. We call this a “Grand Conclusion.” In your paper about teen tobacco use, don’t end it with a statement like, “Tobacco is a dangerous and addictive drug to get hooked on, but alcohol is much worse.” You just totally defeated the whole reason for writing the paper with the addition of alcohol.  Don't depend on your conclusion to sum up the body paragraphs. Your paragraphs should flow naturally into one another and connections should be made among them. Summary can be an important function of conclusions but keep this part brief; readers know what they've just read.  Point out the importance or the implications of what you've just said on an area of societal concern. Again, this is the “so what? factor” stated perhaps a bit more dramatically.  Perhaps propose what you feel is a natural next step to take in light of what your argument is attempting to convince people of.  Your conclusion SHOULD NEVER INCLUDE ANY NEW MATERIALS! It should be a quick summary of the materials that have already been covered.

4. How do I get my body into shape?

Your body paragraphs are perhaps the most important part of your paper; without them your thesis is meaningless and your research question remains an unanswered question.

The number of paragraphs you have will entirely depend on the length of your paper and the complexity of your thesis statement. However, after you have begun to double space your prose, there should be a new paragraph somewhere on each page; a page without an indent is usually a signal that a paragraph somewhere is running too long.

Moving through your essay should be like strolling through hilly terrain. At the hill peaks, you introduce your readers to the 'bigger picture' with more general, abstract words. Then you descend the hill from these heights of generality to the examples down in the valleys. Here you explain in concrete terms what you mean by your lofty claims and show them in action. Eventually, you make your way back up again so that readers can see the examples in their context, that is, what they mean to the bigger picture. This is how your essay should flow: up and down and up again. If, on the other hand, your valleys mutate into vast prairies, readers begin to lose a sense of the original general assertions. Or, if your peaks become heady plateaus, the audience will get dizzy from the high altitude and long for examples in the concrete world. Therefore, you must always achieve a sense of balance between the general and the particular.

According to Bell and Corbett's The Little English Handbook, the three most important features of a paragraph (and the most common errors as well) are unity, coherence, and adequate development.

 Unity is the development of a single controlling idea usually presented in the topic sentence. Each sentence should somehow develop that idea and no other. A paragraph on the role of midwives in child-birth should not digress to child-rearing in the same paragraph. Thus, if you're typing a sentence in your draft that doesn't seem to fit where it is, keep it in but flag it somehow. During revision, you'll see whether there isn't a better spot for it or if it ought to be scrapped.  Coherence is a quality where the writer makes it explicitly clear what the connections are between thoughts. In Latin, coherence basically means “to stick together.” Make things stick together for your readers. You won't be there beside them saying “oh, this is what I meant.” Tell them what you mean in writing! Don't think “but, that's obvious”—make it obvious by saying it. The following tips should be used for achieving coherence:

 Repeat key words. Using synonyms may be great for creative writing but in research papers, key words are markers!!  Use pronouns for important nouns. Of course, you can't always be saying the same words over and over again so luckily the English language has a device called the pronoun to refer back to the same word. If you say that 'the educational system is troubled' in one sentence and begin the next with “it,” the reader knows the ‘it’ here refers back to educational system.  Use demonstratives. “This policy . . . ,” “that event,” or “ . . . these examples” are great ways to, again, point back to a previous sentence.  Establish some logical order to the sentences in your paragraph such as cause to effect, or general to particular.  Use transitional words. Transitional words like “therefore,” “moreover,” “however,” aren't just great links between paragraphs but also signal the type of relationship one sentence has to another.

 Adequate development is what it sounds like: fulfill what you promise in your topic sentence. If you say you will discuss several unusual items found in drugstores, then discuss several. Give your readers enough meat to chew on about the topic. What is adequate? Well, it's quite subjective but remember this little saying (sexist implications aside) from one of my early English professors: “A paragraph is like a woman's skirt: it should be long enough to cover the topic and short enough to be interesting.”

Here are some more tips that you need to know when you are body building:

 Use your sources as support for your insights, not as the backbone of your paper. A patchwork of sources stuck in a paper like random letters in a ransom note does not a research paper make.  Summarize (condense a text by stating the main ideas in your own words) and paraphrase (say the same thing in a different way) much more often than you use direct quotes (same words as the original, in quotation marks).  Don't use direct quotes as fillers but because the author says something so aptly or dramatically that a paraphrase would lose that power. Or, if you're analyzing the language of a passage.  If do you use a direct quote, the explanation should be twice as long as the quote. Even summaries and paraphrases don't become your own thoughts just because they're in your own words. You have to explain them too. Readers have to know why you include source material where you do.  If multiple sources say the same thing, summarize what they say and put a few key names in brackets at the end of the sentence. This can both add credibility and reduce space!  When you do use direct quotes, the most fluid way to integrate them is to incorporate key words right into your text. So write: "We can see this change when Othello calls his wife a 'strumpet' (4.2.81) . . . ." rather than include the entire line where he called her a strumpet.  Don't summarize plots of primary sources. Assume your audience has read the work. Only explain as much as you need to establish context for an example.  A standard paragraph contains around four (4) sentences.  Vary the length and complexity of your sentences.  NEVER use “instant messenger” language (i.e., LOL, J/K, or any emoticon faces).

5. I’m done writing, now what?

Believe it or not, now that you've hopefully finished major revisions, the hardest part is really over! Your goal at this point is not so much to focus on content but on nitpicky copy-editing which is so great for catching those careless mistakes that distract your readers from your main ideas.

Here's a checklist for some finishing touches:

 Check out your verb tenses. Don't feel you have to completely avoid the "passive" tense (e.g., "the ball was caught by Billy") but definitely try to have MORE subject-verb "active" sentences; they add power and agency to your writing (e.g., "Billy caught the ball"). Also make sure your verbs are in the right tense. When you're writing a research paper, past tense is more suitable.  Check pronoun situations—DO NOT use any first person pronouns (I, me, my, mine, we, us, our, ours) or any second person pronouns (you, your, yours). You may use third person pronouns (he, him, his, she, her, hers, they, their, and theirs).  Read your essay out loud to listen for either awkward or long sentences that could be clarified or broken up to read better.  Check your punctuation for problems with quotation marks, commas, semicolons, colons, or dashes.  Look for glaring grammatical flaws. Be especially on the alert for mistakes you make often.

 Check your diction (word choice). If you're looking for a better word, look up some possibilities online at Dictionary.com or Thesaurus.com, or in an actual hardcover version.  Prepare a Works Cited or References list. Set up footnotes or endnotes if you need them too.  Now you can check your spelling both with a computer spell-checker and with your own eyes to catch those words that are spelled right but used in the wrong context (like there vs. their vs. they're). Someone else's eyes are great at this point because you're probably too close to your own writing.  Work on the presentation of your paper: use a laser-printer if you can (or else your best ink-jet) on 8.5 x 11 inch paper, double space your lines, maintain 1 inch margins, start numbering pages on the second page of actual text, and prepare a title page with an original title somewhere in the centre and your vital student info in the bottom right hand corner. No plastic covers needed; just a staple will do. Also make sure your font is very readable (Times New Roman is the most common) and in 12 point.

______Part III: How does MLA help me to avoid Plagiarism?

Dictionary.com defines plagiarism as “the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work.” The following information will give you the right tools to never get caught by the plagiarism police:

 “What is MLA Style?” The style recommended by the association for preparing scholarly manuscripts and student research papers which concerns itself with the mechanics of writing – such as punctuation, quotation, and documentation of sources in-text (known as parenthetical citation) and at the conclusion of the text (known as your Works Cited  see below). MLA style has been widely adopted by schools, academic departments, and instructors for nearly half a century.

 “What is an ‘In-Text Citation’ (also known as a ‘Parenthetical Citation’)”?

MLA in-text citations are made with a combination of signal phrases and parenthetical references. A signal phrase indicates that something taken from a source (such as a quotation, summary, paraphrase, or fact) is about to be used. The parenthetical reference, which comes after the cited material, normally includes the authors’ last name. In the following example, the elements of the in-text citation are shown in italics.

One driver, Peter Cohen, says that after he was rear-ended, the guilty party emerged from his vehicle still talking on the phone (Trescavage).

Readers can look up the author's last name—Trescavage—in the alphabetized list of works cited, where they will learn the work's title and other publication information. When readers decide to consult the source, the URL or the website address will lead them to the entire article written by the author.

Some commonly used examples of how to add MLA in-text citation into your paper:

1. Author of an article named in parentheses: If the signal phrase does not name the author, put the author's last name in parentheses along with the page number.

Most states do not keep adequate records on the number of times cell phones are a factor in accidents; as of December 2000, only ten states were trying to keep such records (Sundeen).

NOTE: Period should be placed after the parentheses of the in-text citation.

2. The Author is unknown, so all you have is an article title: Use a short form of the title, usually the first work in parentheses. Titles of books are underlined; titles of articles and other short works are put in quotation marks.

As of 2001, at least three hundred towns and municipalities had considered legislation regulating use of cell phones while driving ("Lawmakers").

3. Author named in a signal phrase: Introduce the material being cited with a signal phrase that includes the author's name. In addition to preparing readers for the source, the signal phrase allows you to keep the parenthetical citation brief.

Christine Haughney reports that shortly after Japan made it illegal to use a handheld phone while driving, “accidents caused by using the phones dropped by 75 percent.”

The signal phrase—“Christine Haughney reports that”—names the author; the parenthetical citation gives the page number of the newspaper article in which the quoted words may be found.

Notice that the period follows the parenthetical citation. When a quotation ends with a question mark or an exclamation point, leave the end punctuation inside the quotation mark and add a period after the parentheses: ". . . ." (8). CAUTION: Before assuming that a Web source has no author, PLEASE do some detective work. Often the author's name is available but is hard to find. For example, it may appear at the end of the source, in tiny print. Or it may appear on another page of the site, such as the home page.

3. Book Author: If your list of works cited includes a book, please include the page number in your in-text citation.

Estimates of the number of accidents caused by distracted drivers vary because little evidence is being collected (Smith 7).

4. Book Authors with the same last name: If your list of works cited includes works by authors with the same last name, include the author's first name in a signal phrase or first initial in the parentheses.

Estimates of the number of accidents caused by distracted drivers vary because little evidence is being collected (D. Smith 7).

5. Two or three Book Authors: Name the authors in the signal phrase, as in the following example, or include their last names in the parenthetical reference: (Redelmeier and Tibshirani 453).

Redelmeier and Tibshirani found that "the risk of a collision when using a cellular telephone was four times higher than the risk when a cellular telephone was not being used" (453).

When three authors are named in the parentheses, separate the names with commas: (Alton, Davies, and Rice 56).

 “Why is an ‘In-Text Citation’ such a vital part of the research paper?

While writing your research paper, you will need to support your ideas with information from others who have researched that subject before you. In other words, their work will be the step stool or foundation for you to make your paper reach new heights. Unless you are expert in the field of study that you choose to write about, your paper must include research from others. Because of this reason, you, as academically minded students, are obligated to give that person you used to enhance your work their just due. You must give them credit. The consequences if credit is not given can be quite steep. It’s called plagiarism.

- Plagiarism is:1.) copying someone else’s words without using quotation marks AND citing (giving credit) to the source. 2.) paraphrasing or summarizing someone else’s words without citing the source. 3.) quoting someone else’s words inaccurately. 4.) restating some else’s original or specialized ideas without citing the source. 5.) misrepresenting the idea of someone else’s words or ideas. 6.) citing the wrong source. 7.) pretending someone else’s work is your own.

- NOTE: Text is not the only thing that can be plagiarized. You must also credit the sources of images, graphics, charts, drawings, video, music, etc. Plagiarism will be treated with extreme measures such as an automatic zero grade for the assignment. The most serious punishment for this fraud at Riverside is expulsion. - Are you obligated to cite everything in your paper? No. Common knowledge does not need to be cited. It includes well-known facts, such as, Columbus discovered the New World in 1492, the United State has 50 states, or the temperature of the average human body is 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. - You can easily avoid Plagiarism by simply inserting a Works Cited at the end of your paper and In-Text Citations in your body.

 What is a Works Cited?:

The Works Cited should appear at the end of your essay. It provides the information necessary for a reader to locate and be able to read any sources you cite in the essay. Each source you cite in the essay must appear in your Works Cited; likewise, each entry in the Works Cited must be cited in your text. Preparing your Works Cited using MLA style can be researched or found in the following locations:

1. The MLA Style Manuel 2. Handbook for Writing Research Papers 3. http://www.writinghelp-central.com/mla.html 4. http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_mla.html 5. http://www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/humanities/intext.html

6. http://www.aresearchguide.com/12biblio.html 7. http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/online/cite5.html 8. http://www.aresearchguide.com/sampleparenth.html

Works Cited Format (Step by Step):

1. Begin your Works Cited on a separate page from the main text of your research paper. At the top of this new page you will place the heading  Works Cited 1) It must be centered. 2) It will not include quotation marks, underlining, or boldface.

2. The first line of your first entry in your list should be even with the left margin. Subsequent will be indented one- half inch (one press of the TAB button on your keyboard).

3. Double-space all entries, with NO skipped spaces between entries.

4. Keep in mind that underlining and italicizing are the same; you WILL select underlining to use in your Works Cited. [see Rule 6 below]

5. Alphabetize the list of your Works Cited entries by the: a.) author’s last name b.) first word in the name of the article title

6. If there is a listing in your Works Cited, there better be a citation reference in the body of your paper.

Basic Rules for Citations:

Rule 1: Authors' names are inverted (last name first); if a work has more than one author, invert only the first author's name, follow it with a comma, then continue listing the rest of the authors.

Rule 2: If you have cited more than one work by a particular author, order them alphabetically by title, and use three hyphens in place of the author's name for every entry after the first. Rule 3: When an author appears both as the sole author of a text and as the first author of a group, list solo- author entries first.

Rule 4: If no author is given for a particular work, alphabetize by the title of the piece and use a shortened version of the title for parenthetical citations.

Rule 5: Capitalize each word in the titles of articles, books, etc. This rule does not apply to articles, short prepositions, or conjunctions unless one is the first word of the title or subtitle.

Rule 6: Underline or italicize titles of books, journals, magazines, newspapers, and films.

Rule 7: Use quotation marks around the titles of articles in journals, magazines, and newspapers. Also use quotation marks for the titles of short stories, book chapters, poems, and songs.

Rule 8: List page numbers efficiently, when needed. If you refer to a journal article that appeared on pages 225 through 250, list the page numbers on your Works Cited page as 225-50.

Basic Forms for Hard Copy Sources (can be held in your hands) on your Works Cited:

 Book with one author:

Author. Title of Book. City of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication.

Ex., Trescavage, Jamie. Dominating Paper Football. New York: HarperCollins, 2007.

 Book with two or more authors:

Authors. Title of Book. City of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication.

Ex., Trescavage, Jamie and Peyton Manning. Making the Perfect Paper Football. Boston: Allyn, 2000.

 Book with no author:

Title of Book. City of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication.

Ex., Encyclopedia of Trees. New York: Somerset, 1993.

 Article from a reference book (encyclopedia):

“Title of Article.” Name of Reference Book. Year of Edition.

Ex., “Paper Football.” Encyclopedia Britannica. 1999 ed.

 Article in a Newspaper or Magazine:

Author(s). “Title of the Article.” Title of the Source. Day Month Year: pages.

Ex., Trescavage, Jamie. “Trescavage Hopes to Win Showdown.” The Scranton Times. 5 Dec. 2000: 20.

 Article in a scholarly journal:

Author(s). “Title of Article.” Title of Journal. Vol (Year): pages.

Ex., Allen, Emily. “Staging Identity: Frances Burney’s Allegory of Genre.” Eighteenth-Century Studies. 31 (1998): 433-51.

 Personal Interview:

Interviewer. Personal Interview. Day Month Year.

Ex., Trescavage, Jamie. Personal Interview. 7 June 2000.

Basic Forms (with Examples) for Electronic Sources on your Works Cited: **note – If a piece of the information below does not exist or you cannot find it – skip it. DO NOT make it up!**

 Article on a regular web site:

Author(s). “Article Title.” Name of Web Site. Date of posting/revision (Day Month Year). Name of institution/organization affiliated with the site. Date of access

Ex., Trescavage, Jamie. “Nittany Lions Roar.” Fightonstate.com. 30 August 2004. Scout.com. 28 Sep. 2004

 Article on an online journal or magazine (EbscoHost):

Author(s). “Article Title.” Title of Source (City, State). (Day Month Year). Name of Database. EBSCO. [Library], [City], [State]. Date.

Ex., Bell, Jim. “I like pizza.” Scranton-Times (Scranton, Pa.). (7 June 2008). Newspaper Source. EBSCO. [Riverside Library], [Taylor], [Pa.]. 17 Feb 2010.

Other Types of sources on your Works Cited:

 Advertisement (print):

Product being advertised. Advertisement. Advertisement source. Day Month Year: page.

Ex., Sony Plasma Television. Advertisement. Wall Street Journal. 20 Nov 2005: 26.

 Television or radio program:

“Title of episode.” Name of program.

 Punctuation Rules:

1. Punctuation rules that are important when writing the paper are listed below. Traditionally, if you do not follow these rules, Microsoft Word will place a green squiggle, indicating an error: a.) two spaces after a period  Johnny came home this weekend. However, he will be leaving soon.

b.) one space after a comma  Johnny, who attends Penn State, called my house today.

2. Quotation rules: 18

a.) “Elvis has left the building,” stated the entertainer.  quotation marks should be placed outside of a comma, period, or question mark

There are a number of websites that you will be able to use for your In-Text citations and Works Cited page, but not until you have mastered MLA:

 http://citationmachine.net/  http://www.palomar.edu/dsps/actc/mla/  http://jerz.setonhill.edu/writing/academic/bib_builder/index.html  http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/lobo2/citationbuilder/citationbuilder.php